Apparatus for feeding cigarettes

ABSTRACT

CONVEYING APPART FOR CIGARETTES, ESPECIALLY TIPPED CIGARETTES, HAVING AN EXPANSIBLE RESERVOIR THROUGH WHICH THE CIGARETTES ARE CONVEYED IN A CONTINUOUS STACK BY MEANS OF CONVEYOR AND ROLLERS BETWEEN WHICH THE STACK IS CONFINED AND HAVING A HORIZONTAL CONVEYOR FEEDING THE CIGARETTES INTO THE RESERVOIR AND A PAIR OF ROLLERS RESTING ON THE CIGARETTES ON THE HORIZONTAL CONVEYOR AND ARRANGED TO PUSH THEM INTO THE RESERVOIR AND PACK AGAINST A CEILING OF THE RESERVOIR TO REDUCE THE RISK OF JAMMING. ADDITIONALLY, THE ROLLERS SENSE VARIATIONS IN THE FLOW RATE WHICH ARE USED TO CONTROL THE CAPACITY OF THE RESERVOIR.

Sept. 20, 1971 A, K, McCQMBlE; 3,605,989

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES Original Fled Sept. 30. 1965 3Sheets-Sheet 1 1N VENTCR. ALIM Aff/TH /ffma/f Sept- 20 1971 A. K.MGCQMBIE 3,605,989

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Sept.50, 1965 Sept. 20, 1971 A. K. MccoMBlE APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTESOriginal Filed Sept. 30. 1965 5 Sheecs--Sheeil 3 United States Patent Of 3,605,989 APPARATUS FOR FEEDIN G CIGARETTES Alan Keith McCoinbie, 2Evelyn St., Deptford, London, SE. 8, England Division of applicationSer. No. 854,028, Aug. 28, 1969, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 685,995, Nov. 7, 1967, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 491,672, Sept. 30, 1965, which in turn is a continuation-impartof application Ser. No. 319,846, Oct. 29, 1963. Application Ser. No.547,702, Apr. 11, 1966, being a continuation of said application Ser.No. 319,846. This application Nov. 20, 1970, Ser. No.

Int. Cl. B65g 15/14 U.S. Cl. 198-76 20 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSUREConveying apparatus for cigarettes, especially tipped cigarettes, havingan expansible reservoir through which the cigarettes are conveyed in acontinuous stack by means of conveyor belts and rollers between whichthe stack is conned and having a horizontal conveyor feeding thecigarettes into the reservoir and a pair of rollers resting on thecigarettes on the horizontal conveyor and arranged to push them into thereservoir and pack against a ceiling of the reservoir to reduce the riskof jamming. Additionally, the rollers sense variations in the tlow ra-tewhich are used to control the capacity of the reservoir.

This application is a division of my copending application Ser. No.854,028 tiled Aug. 28, 1969, which in turn is a continuation of mycopending application Ser. No. 685,995 filed Nov. 7, 1967, nowabandoned, which in turn is a continuation of my copending applicationSer. No. 491,672 filed Sept. 30, 1965, now abandoned, which in turn isin fact a continuation-impart of my copending application Ser. No.319,846 tiled Oct. 29, 1963, now abandoned. My application Ser. No.547,702 tiled Apr. l1, 1966, is a continuation of said application Ser.No. 319,846 and matured into U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,138 issued Jan. 10,1967.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to conveyor apparatusfor rodlike articles, for example cigarettes, which apparatus moves thearticles in parallel alignment in a continuous stack.

Such apparatus is disclosed in United States Patent No. 3,297,138 whereits use in conveying cigarettes from cigarette-making machines tocigarette-packing machines is described.

This apparatus includes a reservoir into and out of which the cigarettesare moved in a continuous stack, and which provides means ofaccommodating the fluctuations in operating rates which occur betweenthe making and the packing machines.

In this apparatus certain problems occur in handling the cigarettes. Forexample tipped cigarettes have a marked tendency to cross and jam.

It is an object of the present invention to provide conveyor apparatuswhich is of particular use in handling cigarettes, especially tippedcigarettes.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Apparatus in accordance with the invention willnow be described by way of example with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line I-I;

3,605,989 lPatented Sept. 20, 1971 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Theapparatus shown in FIGS. l to 4 may form part of an apparatus such as isillustrated in FIG. 5, which corresponds to FlG. 4 of the drawingsaccompanying the above-mentioned U.S. Patent No. 3,297,138. Brieyexpressed the reservoir apparatus shown in FIG. 5 comprises upper landlower parallel elongated compartments 142 and 143, an endless bandconveyor 17-1 having an upper run forming the base of the uppercompartment 142 and a lower run forming the top of the lower compartment143, and a concave movable backplate 147 forming a movable end wall ofthe reservoir. It will be seen that this arrangement forms a loop-shapedconguration comprising parallel links (namely the upper and lowercompartments 142 and 143) joined by a cross-link dened partly by themovable backplate 147. The cigarettes enter the upper compartmentthrough an inlet 112, passing underneath a pivoted detector 185 and passfrom there between conveyors 179 and 180 and into the upper compartment142. From there they pass between the backplate 147 and the roller 145over which the endless band 171 passes and into the lower compartment143. Finally, the cigarettes are delivered from the reservoir afterpassing through an outlet dened by a conveyor band and band 171. Thebackplate and roller can be moved to and fro to increase or decrease thecapacity of the reservoir depending upon the relative rates of supplyand withdrawal of cigarettes to and from the reservoir.

The apparatus according to either of the embodiments shown in FIGS. l to4 of the present drawings is intended to be located at the entrance tothe upper compartment of the reservoir, and may be considered asreplacing the apparatus comprising the bands 179 and 180 and detectorshown in FIG. 5.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, an endless conveyor band 1 receivescigarettes C, e.g. from a number of cigarette-making machines, andconveys them as a moving pile, which may be several cigarettes deep,towards the right in FIG. 1. The band `1 passes about a roller 2,between a pair of opposed cleaning elements 3, and between drivingrollers `4 and 5. On its upper run the band 1 is supported by plates 6and 7.

To the right of the band roller 2 is a drum 8 arranged to rotate in thedirection shown by the arrow at a speed which is varied from time totime as will be described later. A bridge 9 extends from the band 1 tothe surface of the drum 8.

A concave plate 10 carried on supports 11 extends almost halfway aboutthe drum 8, and forms a back support for an endless band 12 which runsover the inside curve of the plate and returns over rollers 13, 14, 15,16, 17 and 18, the last-named being a drive roller, and 19. The plate 10which serves as a stationary end wall is spaced a suitable distance fromthe drum 8 to permit a desired depth of cigarettes to be accommodatedbetween the band 12 and drum 8i.

The band 12 is driven at a speed suitably in excess of the peripheralspeed of the drum 8 to carry the cigarettes C around the drum withoutrelative displacement.

Extending beneath the plate 10 and band 12, and also beneath the drum 8and -the band 1, is an endless band 20, driven by rollers 21 and 22.This band 20` corresponds to the band 171 in FIG. 5 and forms the baseof the upper compartment of the cigarette reservoir. :It the speed ofthis band is altered, the backplate 147 forming 3 the end of thereservoir is moved in one direction or the other so as to alter thecapacity of the reservoir. In the present case, such speed changes areeffected by changing the speed of the drive roller 21.

A short wedge-shaped bridge 23 extends from the band 12, as it passesover the roller 13, to the band 20.

As stated above, the part of the band 20 shown at the bottom of FIG. 1forms the base of the upper compartment of the reservoir. The top ofthis upper compartment is defined by a plate 24.

Side plates 25 and 26 conne the cigarettes laterally at the entrance toand within the upper compartment of the reservoir.

Directly above the conveyor band 1 is a detector member in the form of apair of relatively narrow rollers 125, which together with the conveyor1, the bridge 9 and the drum 8 defines the entrance to the reservoir.Each of the rollers 125 is constructed as a pair of flanged discs, asseen in FIG. 2, clamped together and fixed slightly eccentrically on asleeve 126 which is rotated on a spindle 27 by a Timex belt 28 passingover a sprocket 29. The belt is driven by a sprocket 30 carried by aconstantly rotating drive shaft 31. The spindle 27 is supportedrotatably by a bush 32, FIG. 2, carried by an arm 33 mounted on a sleeve34 which is free to rotate about the drive shaft 31. Thus the rollers125 can swing up and down about the shaft 31. A short arm 35 on thesleeve 34 is connected to one end of a rod 36 so as to cause the rod tomove lengthwise to and fro if the rollers 125 move up and down. Theother end of the rod 36 engages one end of a pivoted element 36a whosemovements are utilized to actuate any suitable means for varying thespeed of the drive roller 21, the drum 8 and the drive roller 18 for theband 12. These means are substantially as described and illustrated inU.S. Pat. No. 3,297,138.

The rollers 125 are driven at a Speed such that their cigarette-engagingperipheral surfaces move faster than the band 1, e.g. at a speed 1.8times that of the band 1.

A plate 37 extends over part of the drum 8 and between the rollers 125,and a short bridge 38 extends between the plate 37 and the roller 19over which the band 12 passes. A exible strip 39 is secured beneath theplate 37 and its free edge bears against the peripheral surfaces of therollers 125.

In operation of the apparatus, cigarettes C are carried by the conveyorband 1 beneath the rollers 125 into the space between the periphery ofthe drum 8 and the plate 37 and strip 39, the bridge 38, and the band12. The rollers 125 rest on the pile of cigarettes moving beneath themand rise or fall according to the cigarette depth at any moment. At thesame time the rollers 125, due to their speed of rotation, positivelyurge the cigarettes forwardly to ensure that the said space is keptfilled with cigarettes and upwardly to urge the cigarettes to packthemselves neatly against the plate 37. It is desirable that thereservoir should at all times be completely filled with cigarettes sothat they are kept in close contact with each other and can therefore bemoved through the reservoir as a more or less compact body, and it isfor this reason that the rollers 125 rotate with a peripheral speed inexcess of the normal feeding speed of the cigarettes, thereby tending toensure that no deficiency of cigarettes, can occur at or immediatelybeyond the entrance to the reservoir and that the cigarettes packthemselves against the ceiling of the reservoir, dened at this point bythe plate 37, thus reducing the risk of them crossing or twisting andthereby jamming the flow. The flexible strip 39, by pressing lightlyagainst the cigarettes just leaving the rollers 125, also assists inkeeping them close together.

If the quantity of cigarettes being fed by the band 1 decreases, thecigarette level on the band will fall and the rollers 125 will fallcorrespondingly, likewise if the quantity on the band 1 increases, therollers 125 will rise. As explained above, these up and down movementsof 4 the rollers 125 are utilized to actuate means whereby the speeds ofthe drum 8, the band 12, and the band 20 are increased to allow morecigarettes to be received in the reservoir, or decreased if fewercigarettes are being received.

Any changes in the speed of the band 20 cause the size of the reservoirto be altered in the manner described in the specification referred toabove, backplate or movable wall 147 moving towards and away fromconcave plate or stationary end wall 10 to vary the length of thereservoir and to compensate for the change in volume of cigarettespresent in the reservoir.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, these show a modified arrangement at theentrance to the reservoir.

A pair of endless chain conveyors 51 (only one of which is shown)receive cigarettes C from e.g. a number of cigarette-making machines andconvey them towards the right in the figure. The chains, which arespaced apart, carry projections 52 which form pockets to accommodate thecigarettes. The chains are driven by and return about sprockets 53.

Three endless bands 54 (only one of which is seen in the figure) arearranged between and on either side of the two chains 51'. These bandspass over rollers 57 and 58 which define their upper run, the rollers 57acting to tension the band, guide roller 58a, and drive wheels 59. Theupper runs of the bands are upwardly inclined in the direction of theirmovement, and intersect the chains 51 so as to lift the cigarettes fromthe chains. They run over a guide plate 62.

It will be seen that the chains 51 and bands 54 in this embodimentreplace the band 1 of FIG. 1.

To the right of the band rollers 58 is a drum 68, bridge 69, concaveplate 70, and band 72, which correspond to the drum 8, bridge 9, concaveplate 10, and band 12 of FIG. l.

Above the bands 54 are two pairs of flanged discs 75 and 76, the discs76 extending partially between the discs 75. The discs 76 are rotatableabout a spindle 77 carried by arms 78 which are mounted for swingingmovement about a spindle 79 on which the discs 75 are rotatable, andwhich is carried by a swingable arm 80. The arm 80 is loosely mountedfor swinging movement about a shaft 81 on which is xed a drive roller82, which is anged as shown in FIG. 4. A band 83, of nylon or othersuitable non-stretching material, backed by a narrower band 84, extendsabout the discs and drive roller and is driven by the latter at the samespeed as the chains 51. The narrow backing band 84 ts between flanges ofthe drive roller 82 and prevents wandering of the composite band. Fixedon a hub 85 of the arm 80 is a short arm 86 connected to one end of arod 87 so as to cause the rod to move lengthwise to and fro if the arm80 swings up and down. The other end of the rod 87 engages one end of apivoted element 88 which is identical with the element 36a in FIG. 1.

The discs 75 and 76 and the surrounding band 83, which rests on thecigarettes carried first by the chains 51 and then by the bands 54,correspond to the rollers of FIG. 1.

I claim:

1. Conveyor apparatus for feeding parallelly aligned rod-like articlestransversely to their lengths along a path comprising conveyor means toconvey a stack of said articles having a first height, an upper wallmember downstream from said conveyor means beneath which said stack ismoved, said upper wall member engaging the upper surface of the stack ofarticles to limit the height of the stack, said height beneath the upperwall member being a second height which is greater than said firstheight, and urging means between said conveyor means and said upper wallmember to feed the continuous stack of articles upwardly against theupper wall member, said urging means comprising upper and lower spacedmoving members moving along paths which are spaced apart adjacent saidconveyor means by an amount equal to said first height, and diverging inthe direction of movement of the stack towards a spacing equal to saidsecond height.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said upper moving member actson the upper surface of the stack to urge the upper part of the stack topack against the upper wall member.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said upper moving membercomprises at least one roller to rotate in engagement with the uppersurface of the stack in the direction of movement thereof and said lowermoving member comprises lower conveyor means on the underside of thestack to define with the roller a flow passage for the stack whichpassage increases in height in the direction of movement of the stack.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a reservoir into which thearticles are moved by said conveyor and urging means, said apparatusfurther comprising detector means at the entrance to the reservoir todetect the rate at which the articles enter the reservoir.

S. Apparaus according to claim 4 wherein said upper moving member isarranged to rest on and be supported by said stack of articles being fedto the reservoir so as to rise and fall as the height of said stack fromsaid conveyor means increases and decreases, said detector means beingconnected to said upper moving member and being responsive to the riseand fall of said upper moving member.

6. Apparatus according to claim A5 further comprising regulating meanswhereby the size of the reservoir is increased and decreased and whereinsaid detecting means comprises a pivoted element connected to said uppermoving member such that pivotal movements of said pivoted element areutilized to actuate said regulating means.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said upper moving membercomprises an endless belt and wherein there are provided at least threerollers for the belt and support members for two of the rollers, whichsupport members are pivoted together, the third roller being positionedto rotate about an axis coincident with the pivot axis.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the third roller has a greaterdiameter than the other two rollers.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said upper moving memberadjoins the upper wall member at a sharp angle.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said lower moving membersupports the stack of articles extending beneath said upper wall memberand defines therewith a flow passage for the stack, said flow passagehaving a region of changing height and said lower moving member andupper wall member being each curved in this region.

11. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said upper moving membercomprises a roller.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 including an endless belt whichpasses around said roller and serves as a continuing upper conveyormeans of said upper moving member and diverges from said lower movingmember towards said second height.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12 comprising a further roller upstreamof said first mentioned roller said endless belt passing around bothsaid rollers to define with the lower moving member a substantiallyparellel channel for the article stack of a height substantially equalto said first height.

14. Apparatus for feeding rod-like articles such as cigarettes,comprising conveyor means for feeding a stack of articles having a firstheight and lying transversely in relation to the direction of feed, asecond conveyor means capable of moving at a speed lower than that ofthe first conveyor means and having associated with it a top wall memberfor confining the upper surface of a stack of articles having a secondheight on the second conveyor means, and means for urging the stack ofthe first height from the first mentioned conveyor means so as totransform said stack into a stack of the second height substantiallyfilling the space between the second conveyor means and the associatedtop wall member, said urging means comprising upper and lower movingconveyor means defining a space which diverges in the direction of feedof the articles, said diverging space having a height at its upstreamend substantially equal to said first height and a height at itsdownstream end substantially equal to said second height.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14 in which the flow of articlesthrough said urging means has a slight upward component.

16. Apparatus according to claim 14 in which the upper conveyor means ofthe urging means is movable towards and away from the cooperating lowerconveyor means of the urging means and is urged towards said lowerconveyor means.

17. Apparatus according to claim 14 in which said second conveyor meanscomprises a roller and the cooperating top wall member is curved aboutthe axis of the roller.

18. Apparatus according to claim 17 in which the curved top wall memberand roller are capable of carrying the stack of articles round throughsubstantially to a position where said stack is increased to a thirdheight, said roller serving to urge said stack into said third height.

19. Apparatus according to claim 18 further comprising a reservoir intowhich said articles are fed, said reservoir being capable of receivingsaid stack of articles at said third height.

20. Apparatus according to claim 16 including speed regulating meanscontrolled by said upper conveyor means of the urging means andoperative to vary the speed of said second conveyor means in response tothe height of said upper conveyor means, the speed of said secondconveyor means being increased as said height increases.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,472,358 10/1969 Poupin 198-165XEDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 198-167 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 15059989 DatedSeptember 20, 1971 Inventor(s) Alan Keith MCCOmbie It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letterslatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column l, line 4, after "England" insert assignor to The MolinsOrganisation Limited, London, England Signed and sealed this 22nd. dayof February 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

ROBERT GOTTSGHLK EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR.

Commissioner' of Patents Attesting Officer' USCOMM-OC 50376-P69 ORMPO-105O K10-69) n u s GovEnNMENT Pnlurm@ orne: was o-sss-Ju

